P: Hovering over a preset previews it but clicking on it doesn't apply it

[John R Ellis]

To date, there have been over a dozen reports of the following: When the user hovers the mouse over a preset in the Presets panel, the preset is correctly previewed in both the Navigator and Loupe (main) views. But when the user clicks on the preset to apply it, it doesn't get applied to the photo, and moving the mouse away restores the photo's previous appearance.

For most of these reports, resetting preferences fixes the problem.  

These previous reports will be merged here to make it easier for users with this problem to find the authoritative thread.

[pryce56]

Joe, could you explain this to me so I can try to do the same thing. I have had this problem for over a year and rest the preferences which helps for a short time and then reverts back to the same behaviour of showing when hovering but clicking does not apply the preset.  This has been so frustrating! 

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-hovering-over-a-preset-previews-it-bu...

[Dang332736362vyp]

I would appreciate guidance on addressing the preset-related concerns I am currently encountering. Specifically, when I hover over a preset, I can observe a preview of the desired outcome; however, upon selecting 'apply' no discernible changes take place. Additionally, I have noted that my slider appears to be non-responsive. Any ideas?

[GoldingD]

That screenshot does not help. All I can see is that you are trying to use a user preset (develop)

[John R Ellis]

Resetting LR's preferences usually fixes this misbehavior:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/articles-page/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

LR sometimes soils its preferences file, and resetting it can fix all sorts of wonky behavior. That article explains how to restore the old preferences if resetting doesn't help.

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with the authoritative thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-hovering-over-a-preset-previews-it-bu...

[Valerie335835032ux6]

Bonjour à tous. Je suis abonnée depuis peu à LRC (après avoir utilisé pendant très longtemps une vieille version de Lightroom). En mode développement, impossible d'utiliser les paramètres prédéfinis. Ils sont bien affichés mais rien ne se passe sur la photo lorsque je passe ou clique sur eux. Merci pour votre aide.

[John R Ellis]

Google translation: "Inactive presets. ... I recently subscribed to LRC (after using an old version of Lightroom for a very long time). In development mode, cannot use predefined settings. They are displayed well but nothing happens in the photo when I hover or click on them. "

This bug is usually fixed by resetting LR's preferences:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/articles-page/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

LR sometimes soils its preferences file, and resetting it can fix all sorts of wonky behavior. That article explains how to restore the old preferences if resetting doesn't help.

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-hovering-over-a-preset-previews-it-bu...

[Momo33395425iaev]

Moin, 
wenn ich auf ein Preset drauf gehe, wird es mir als Vorschau angezeigt. Wenn ich draufklicke tut sich aber nichts. Das Preset wird nicht angewendet. 
Nach einem zurücksetzen der Einstellungen geht es wieder... bis zum nächsten Neustart, dann habe ich wieder das gleiche Pronblem.

[John R Ellis]

Google translation: "Presets are not applied/do not work. when I click on a preset, it is shown to me as a preview. But when I click on it nothing happens. The preset is not applied. After resetting the settings it works again... until the next restart, then I have the same problem again."

This is a longstanding bug that Adobe hasn't been able to fix. For most people, however, resetting preferences fixes the problem permanently.

Does this happen with all presets or just particular ones?  If it happens with just particular presets, right-click one of them and do Show In Finder. That will open Finder with the preset's .xmp file selected. Attach that file to your reply here, and we can see if it causes the same problem on other installations (which would be good, because then Adobe could fix the bug).

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with bug-report thread for this issue:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-hovering-over-a-preset-previews-it-bu...

[Alan21885756v1lo]

This is now happening with alarming frequency. 

At some random point during an editing session, Lightroom will just no longer apply any presets. Hovering over them will display the preview on the image but clicking it results in zero action. The only way to resolve this so far is by backing everything up and resetting my preferences.

This began a few weeks ago and now happens every other time I use Lightroom.

I have of course already uninstalled and reinstalled the application. Makes zero difference.

[JohanElzenga]

Try resetting the preferences: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

[John R Ellis]

@Alan21885756v1lo: "The only way to resolve this so far is by backing everything up and resetting my preferences."

So the problem occurs, you reset preferences, the problem goes away for a while, and then comes back? How long does it take for it to come back?  For most people, resetting preferences permanently fixes the issue.

Is there a particular preset for which this problem always occurs?

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this Bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-hovering-over-a-preset-previews-it-bu...

[Alan21885756v1lo]

It comes back in a matter of days. It happens with every single preset.

[John R Ellis]

@Alan21885756v1lo, this problem has been occurring very infrequently but persistently over many years. This is a long shot, but perhaps you could help troubleshoot it. The next time it occurs:

1. In the presets panel, right-click the problem preset and do Show In Finder / File Explorer. Save a copy of the selected .xmp file on your desktop.

2. Exit LR and reset preferences following the "Manually" method here:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/ 

But save a copy on your Desktop of the original "Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs" (Win) / com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist" (Mac) file on your Desktop, renaming it to contain "original".

3. Restart LR and then exit LR. 

4. Save a copy of the current preferences file on your Desktop, renaming it to contain "reset".

5. Do Help > System Info and save the output to your Desktop.

6. Put the preset, the original and reset preferences file, and the System Info file into a folder, zip up the folder, and upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar, and send me the sharing link in a private message. (The preferences files might contain personally sensitive information.) 

I'll see if I can determine which field in the "original" preferences file might be getting set to an invalid value, which could then provide an important clue to Adobe developers.

[master_Glitter5E63]

I have had this problem 3 times in the past week and each time I have resolved it by resetting LR's preferences but that is going to be a pain if it keeps happening.  I had not reinstalled any presets or plug-ins after the 2nd time so am fairly confident it was not any of them causing the problem.  Not all the presets/plugins needed to be reloaded, some are not lost in thr reset.

[John R Ellis]

@master_Glitter5E63, if it happens again, perhaps you could help troubleshoot the issue following the steps in my previous post:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-hovering-over-a-preset-previews-it-bu... 

"Not all the presets/plugins needed to be reloaded, some are not lost in the reset."

LR automatically installs all plugins it finds in the Modules subfolder in the Lightroom settings folder (Preferences > Presets > Show All Other Lightroom Presets). So if you put all your plugins in Modules, that will save you time when you need to reset preferences.

[master_Glitter5E63]

Thank you John I have reloaded all. No problems up to now. Thank you for the modules tip..

[Alan21885756v1lo]

So I've managed to narrow down the sequence of events that lead to this happening to me (continually). It basically happens when I create a new preset or a new preset category or update the settings on a preset. It doesn't happen every time, but at this point it must be close to 50% of the time.

I'm using Mac OS, this is happening regardless of version of Mac OS and regardless of version of Lightroom.